George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Manhattan Romance: Woody Allen Rebooted

If Woody Allen were in his late twenties or early thirties and made a movie today, it would be a lot like Manhattan Romance. And, in fact, Woody Allen is mentioned early in the movie, and Tom O'Brien, who is about that age, wrote, produced, directed, and stars in Manhattan Romance - which is a delightfully sage movie, and better than some of Woody Allen's recent efforts.

Danny - played by O'Brien - is making a documentary about love in Manhattan in this day and digital age, but the main story is what happens off the screen of the documentary, in the real lives of Danny and women who are in the documentary. Two women in particular play major roles in Danny's off-camera life. Beautiful, new-agey Theresa, well played by Caitlin FitzGerald - seen to good effect the last couple of years as the alternately suffering and liberated wife of Dr. Masters in Masters of Sex on Showtime - is desired by Danny, who gets little more than a hug and a chance to give Theresa a massage with happy endings for no one. In true Woody Allen fashion, Danny's take away from this relationship is frustration.

That would be ok, since we soon come to realize that Danny loves someone else - Carla, zestfully played by Katherine Waterston, who was on the screen in Boardwalk Empire last season. But Carla, though she feels something for Danny, has opted to be with a woman. And even though we see clearly from the outset that that relationship isn't working so well, there's no dividend for Danny. He spends most of a night together with Carla in bed, but all that happens is good talk and sleep.

All of this is situated in a great, pulsating New York ambience, in which memorable characters make brief appearances, and there's even a little jazz in the air. The guy Theresa is sleeping with - she's not against sex, just apparently sex with Danny - is a fount of lay-back aphorisms, or afflicted with "spiritual Tourettes," as Danny aptly puts it in one of the many good lines in the movie. Zach Grenier, of Good Wife fame, plays Danny's mother's husband, and delivers a suitably zany, stoned performance at a wedding.

The movie ends with a great meta-piece about the nature of endings - in stories and realities - and I won't tell you more than that, lest I spoil the ending of that ending for you. The movie premieres at the Big Apple Film Festival this Wednesday. See it if you've ever wondered how the genre Woody Allen created half a century ago would play on the screen if it was almost brand new today.

About Me

Paul Levinson, PhD, is Professor of Communication &
Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City.His 8 nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997),
Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003), Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009, 2nd edition 2012), have been the
subject of major articles in the New York Times, Wired, the Christian Science
Monitor, and have been translated into 12 languages. His science fiction novels include The Silk Code (1999, ebook 2012), Borrowed Tides (2001), TheConsciousness Plague (2002, 2013), The Pixel Eye (2003), The Plot To SaveSocrates (2006, ebook 2012), and Unburning Alexandria (2013).His short stories
have been nominated for Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Sturgeon Awards.Paul Levinson appears on "The
O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News,"“NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” (PBS),“Nightline” (ABC), NPR, and numerous
national and international TV and radio programs. His 1972 album, Twice Upon a Rhyme, was re-issued in 2009 (CD) and 2010 (remastered vinyl). He reviews the best of
television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog, and was listed in The Chronicle of
Higher Education’s “Top 10 Academic Twitterers” in 2009.

e-mail received from a reader:Dear Paul, I just dreamed of airships flying between raindrops. I just returned from 2042 CE, where I sold my hardcover copy of The Plot to Save Socrates for seventy million Neo-Euros, because it had your response to this e-mail from way back in 2007 scotch-taped onto the inside of the cover. A Paul Levinson collector paid top Neo-Euro, because of the authentic archaic e-mail printout from you. It turns out that not many of your e-mails from before your tenure as CEO of HBO/Cinemax and terms as United Nations Secretary General will survive that far into the future. So, please respond to this e-mail, to help found my great-grandchildren's fortune. My Will will stipulate that they must share with your great grandchidren. Thanks! Tom